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Swordmage
“Spells are my armor, and words of ruin are bound to my blade” __NOEDITSECTION__ Description Swordmages apply the arcane arts to melee combat. The combat skills they possess are enhanced by the magic they wield. The flourish of a swordmage’s blade not only bites with steel, but also with fire, lightning, or other powerful forces. You studied and practiced for years to master your skills. You mastered the fundamentals of arcane magic and combined this academic study with endless hours of physical training. You might be a young eladrin in search of your fortune, a stranger to the wider world outside the seclusion of your homeland; a self-trained genasi sellsword, gifted with an affinity for elemental magic; the scion of a disgraced noble human family, taught by the finest tutors in your youth but now a footloose expatriate; or a half-elf arcane champion, rigorously trained in a war magic academy to serve in the armies of your homeland. Magical barriers of force swirl around you, protecting you from harm. The blade you carry is an extension of your being, both body and mind. It pulses with eldritch energy as you prepare to defend your allies and unleash magical fury against your foes. Overview Characteristics: Your melee skills are most important, but you also have attacks that can hit multiple creatures or injure creatures at range. Your defensive powers can protect your allies and yourself. Religion: Swordmages favor deities of magic or skill. Corellon, Selûne, Torm, and Tymora are common among swordmages of good heart. Swordmages of a darker bent often revere Shar, regarding their unusual skills as a secret art to be kept hidden from the uninitiated. Races: Genasi from Returned Abeir are the archetypal assault swordmages. Humans and eladrin are the main practitioners of the shielding swordmage style. Githyanki are also known to practice their own swordmage tradition, which is similar to the shielding swordmage. Creating a The swordmage has two builds: assault swordmage and shielding swordmage. Intelligence plays into all your attacks, but you might emphasize either Strength or Constitution for added benefits. Assault Swordmage Your style of combat focuses on flashy attacks that call up elemental forces and throw your opponents around the battlefield. This method of aggressive swordmage combat spread from Returned Abeir to Toril through the heritage of the anarchs of Shyr. Your attacks use Intelligence, so that should be your primary ability score. Strength should be your second-best ability score, since it enhances your assault powers and keeps your base attack bonus high. Constitution helps your survivability and can be useful if you want to try some shielding swordmage powers. Most assault swordmages use a two-handed weapon (such as a greatsword or a falchion) to deal more damage, though they have a lower AC as a result. :Suggested Feature: Aegis of Assault :Suggested Feat: Escalating Assault (Human feat: Weapon Focus) :Suggested Skills: Arcana, Athletics, Diplomacy, Intimidate :Suggested At-Will Powers: greenflame blade, sword burst :Suggested Encounter Power: flame cyclone :Suggested Daily Power: burning blade Shielding Swordmage You protect your allies with magical shields of force—and by keeping enemies away from them. This heritage is embodied by the Coronal Guard tradition, a discipline that can be traced over a thousand years to the armathors, the elite guards of the coronal of Myth Drannor. Intelligence powers your attacks, so it should be your highest ability score. Constitution applies added effects to many of your attacks, so it should be your second-highest score. A good Strength lets you take advantage of assault swordmage powers (giving you some added offense) and keeps your basic attack decent. You’ll want to keep a hand free to get your AC bonus from Swordmage Warding class feature, so you should use a one-handed weapon such as a longsword or a scimitar. :Suggested Feature: Aegis of Shielding :Suggested Feat: Retributive Shield (Human feat: Student of Sword Magic) :Suggested Skills: Arcana, Diplomacy, History, Insight :Suggested At-Will Powers: booming blade, lightning lure :Suggested Encounter Power: chilling blow :Suggested Daily Power: frost backlash Class Features Swordmages are smart, strong bastions of defense whose art is embodied by their swords. All swordmages have the class features described below. Swordbond By spending 1 hour of meditation with a chosen light or heavy blade, you forge a special bond with the weapon. As a standard action, you can call your bonded weapon to your hand from up to 10 squares away. You can forge a bond with a different blade using the same meditation process (for instance, if you acquire a new blade that has magical abilities). If you forge a bond with a different blade, the old bond dissipates. If your bonded weapon is broken or damaged, you can spend 1 hour of meditation to recreate the weapon from a fragment. (This process automatically destroys any other fragments of the weapon in existence, so you can’t use it to create multiple copies of a broken weapon.) Swordmage Aegis You can place a magical warding upon a foe, allowing you to respond to the foe’s attacks against your allies with a counterassault or a timely protection. Choose one of the following Swordmage Aegis powers. :Aegis of Assault: You teleport to the side of the attacker and respond with an attack of your own. :Aegis of Shielding: You deflect some of the damage of an incoming attack. Swordmage Warding While you are conscious and wielding either a light blade or a heavy blade, you maintain a field of magical force around you. This field provides a +1 bonus to AC, or a +3 bonus if you are wielding a blade in one hand and have your other hand free (not carrying a shield, an off-hand weapon, a two-handed weapon, or anything else). If you become unconscious, your Swordmage Warding benefit disappears. You can restore it by taking a short rest or an extended rest. Powers Your powers are also known as spells. You use your blade as your implement, employing it both as a melee weapon and as a conduit for your arcane magic. Some swordmage powers include a line titled “Aegis of Assault” or “Aegis of Shielding.” You gain this extra benefit only if you selected the aegis of assault or aegis of shielding power, respectively. Class Features Every swordmage has a class feature that works like a power. The two varieties of Swordmage Aegis, aegis of assault and aegis of shielding, are presented below. Spells Category:Class